What’s Happening In January 2024
Services on Sundays will be at the usual times of 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. throughout January. There is no midweek meeting on 4 January, but midweek meetings resume on 11 January. Every Thursday thereafter, we have either a prayer meeting or a Bible study starting at 7.30 p.m. Our Bible studies are looking at lessons we can learn from the life of David.
Our Parent & Toddler group re-starts on Wednesday 10 January (9-11 a.m.) and is on Wednesday and Friday mornings between 9 and 11 a.m. during term time. £1 per family, including drinks and toast.
On Saturday 6 January between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. we have our coffee morning and prayer walk around Goldthorpe. All welcome.
On Monday 15 January between 6 and 8 p.m. we are hosting ‘Mindful Moments’, an evening of creativity for adults. Join us to make perfume and be involved in other crafts; combat the January blues with blasts of creativity!
On Wednesday 17 January we have our ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting at 1.45 p.m. at GPCC. We’ll be looking at how attitudes are all important in the Christian life.
On Saturday 20 January we will be involved in the launch of the seflie board trail, part of the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival’s community art project which saw 16 selfie boards created to celebrate our local community. We’ll start the event in Goldthorpe Library at 10 a.m. with crafts, entertainment from storyteller Rebecca Dye and the opportunity to take photos with many of the selfie boards before moving on to see the boards in other locations such as Goldthorpe Town Square, the Scout & Guide Hut on Lockwood Road, Dearne Playhouse, Goldthorpe Railway Embankment, Thurnscoe Library, Station House and Thurnscoe Flower Park. Watch this space for more news!
New Year’s Day Party
2024 has started, and as is customary, we had a New Year’s Day party at church to celebrate! There was lots of delicious food to eat:
It was great to have so many from our Parent & Toddler group and ‘Mindful Moments’ come to the party.
As always, there were silly games and a quiz about 2023.
Things We Should Not Forget
In Psalm 103:1-5, David reminds us of things we should not forget:
Forgiveness of Sins
The forgiveness of sins is the first benefit mentioned by David, and this truly is a great miracle. A holy, pure God cannot look on evil. We are all tainted by sin and have all fallen short of God’s glory. (Rom 3:23) The chasm between us and God was irreconcilable. There was just no way we could bridge this gap. But the cross shows us that the gap has indeed been bridged; in Christ, ‘we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.’ (Eph 1:7) This is only possible because the sinless Saviour died for our sins, because ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.’ (Heb 9:22) The Old Testament system of sacrifices for sin foreshadowed what Christ Himself did for us by offering Himself as a sacrifice, as an ‘atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.’ (1 John 2:2)
Peter tells us, ‘Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.’ (1 Pet 3:18) Each week we come to remember what Christ has done for us on Calvary and we can be thankful and grateful for the forgiveness of sins. No matter how often we fail, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1:9) The benefit of forgiven sins means we can live without guilt and shame and can live in a right relationship not only with God but with other people too. It’s one of the greatest miracles we can ever experience.
Healing
The second thing David thanks God for is that He is the One who heals all our diseases. (Ps 103:3) We have looked at many, many miracles of healing this year: God raising people from the dead, adding years to Hezekiah’s life, healing ordinary people in the Gospels and the book of Acts. In every one of these miracles, we have seen how God sees individuals and cares for them, that He meets their personal, individual needs. Matthew tells us, ‘When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.’ (Matt 14:14) We may not understand everything about the subject of healing; we may not understand why God does not heal everyone instantaneously, but we know that God is able to heal us and is a God of healing: ‘I am the Lord, who heals you.’ (Ex 15:26)
Redemption
David says that we should remember God ‘who has redeemed your life from the pit.’ (Ps 103:4) First and foremost, this is a picture of what God has done for us on the cross. Sin is a very deep pit indeed; in another psalm, David says, ‘He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.’ (Ps 40:2) We were far from God, not only horizontally, as that bridge image reminds us, but vertically. There was no way we could reach God; He was so far from us that not even the tallest amongst us could reach Him! But He reached down to us and lifted us up and set our feet on a rock. David says, ‘you lifted me out of the depths’ (Ps 30:1); Ps 107:41 says, ‘he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks.’ As we focus on those occasions when God has helped us, faith is fuelled for the next trial, the next difficulty. We know that no one is beyond God’s deliverance and redemption; as Isaiah reminds us, ‘Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.’ (Is 59:1) Jeremiah the prophet was cast into a literal pit, a cistern, but God used Ebed-Melek to work for his rescue (Jer 38); he was delivered and lifted out of that pit. Jonah faced the metaphorical pit of being swallowed by a great fish, but again, as he prayed to God, ‘the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.’ (Jonah 2:10) God specialises in impossible situations; He is able to work miracles to rescue us from deep pits and is our helper and deliverer.
Love & Compassion
David goes on to say that we should remember that God crowns us with love and compassion. (Ps 103:4) God’s love is unfailing, unchanging, everlasting and true. It is the bedrock of our lives. We cannot do anything to make God love us more; we cannot do anything to make God love us less. His love is unconditional; it is there for us, no matter what. If ever we doubt God’s love, Paul reminds us that ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Rom 5:8) If you want proof that God loves us, look to the cross. ‘This is how we know, this is how we know what love is: Just one look at the cross.’ (‘This Is How We Know’, Matt Redman) This is another reason why our weekly Communion matters so much; it is as we focus on the cross and remember that this is His body, this is His blood shed for us, that we are re-oriented to our true identities as loved children of God.
Compassion is not quite the same as love; it is that ability to come alongside someone and ‘suffer with’ them. Again, is this not the miracle that we find at the cross? God, who had the right to judge us and condemn us, instead came to suffer with us and to offer us His loving help. John tells us ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’ (John 3:17) Salvation, God’s great rescue plan, is available to us because of God’s great compassion and love for us; Lamentations 3:22 tells us, ‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.’
Satisfaction
David goes on to remind himself that God ‘satisfies your desires with good things.’ (Ps 103:5) Perhaps the greatest miracle we find in God is satisfaction; ‘godliness with contentment is great gain.’ (1 Tim 6:6) This generation is perhaps the most dissatisfied in history; we have so many material things, but are often deeply dissatisfied, disgruntled people. We have just had Christmas and probably all received some lovely gifts from friends and family at this time, but already perhaps some of us are bored with these gifts and are wanting new ones. Dissatisfaction is the central tenet of the advertising world and so easily pervades our lives.
We often find it hard to believe that God wants to satisfy our desires with good things; we are more used to thinking of God as a killjoy, as the ‘hard parent’, the one who always says ‘no’. Nothing could be further from the truth. James reminds us that ‘every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’ (James 1:17) So many things that promise us satisfaction are transitory or illusory. They do not last; they do not satisfy. God, on the other hand, gives us good and perfect gifts; ‘no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.’ (Ps 84:11) Ps 37:4 gives us the promise, ‘Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.’ We find satisfaction in God not simply in the now, but for eternity. He is able to satisfy us emotionally, physically and spiritually. He fills the God-shaped hole in our hearts; He is the One who is able to keep us going, who sustains us, who fulfils us.
Renewal
Finally, David says that through God, our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Ps 103:5) God is the One who renews us. He refreshes us, He restores our souls. (Ps 23:3) One of the things about ageing is that we notice our weariness more; we can’t always do the things we used to do, or at least we can’t do them as easily! I notice a difference even in seven years in how I was when Esther was a baby compared to how I am with Melody! But God is able to renew us and reinvigorate us. Deut 34:7 tells us, ‘Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.’ I believe that is God’s word to all of us who are getting older and perhaps feel our usefulness to God has passed and we are simply in the waiting room to move on to glory. There is no retirement, no redundancy, in God’s work, no point at which we become useless. Our ministries may have to change; we may need to do things differently, but God is able to renew our youth like the eagle’s, that bird whose soaring strength remains a picture of power and awesome ability in the natural world.
Don’t Forget!
This morning as we looked back over 2023, we thought about Psalm 103:1-5 and especially the command ‘forget not all His benefits.’ We might wonder how we can forget what God has done and all the ways He has blessed us, but Psalm 78 (a history of Israel in the wilderness) shows us that despite the daily miracles of manna, water from a rock and being led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, the Israelites did forget what God had done for them and sinned and rebelled against Him. Miracles are no guarantee of obedience or faith. We have to take time out to focus on God (which is what our weekly Communion service tries to do) and to remember all He has done for us.
The ‘checklist’ David assembles to help him remember reasons to praise God include forgiveness, healing, redemption, crowning us with love and compassion, satisfaction, restoration, and renewal. All these things are immense blessings, reminding us that we have a God who forgives, heals, redeems, loves us, is compassionate towards us and satisfies us. He even renews our youth like the eagle’s (see also Is 40:28-31) so that we are given the strength to continue.
The miracles God did in the Bible continue to this day; we shared testimonies of how God has helped us, led us, provided for us and healed us throughout this past year. Looking back and remembering all God has done is the first step in moving forward. God is there in our ordinary, mundane lives, breaking in with extraordinary power at times so that we are indeed a blessed people whose God is the Lord.
Press On!
Each year as we approach a new year, I ask God to give me a verse that will sustain and lead me through the new year. In recent years, verses such as Psalm 112:4-8, Isaiah 43:18-19 and Matthew 6:33-34 have really helped to strengthen and guide me.
As I have been meditating on God’s word in recent weeks, the theme that has come through is ‘press on’ and so the verses I am holding onto as we prepare for 2024 are found in Philippians 3:12-14.
In this chapter, Paul lays down his Jewish pedigree and past achievements and speaks of his passion to know Christ more. He admits that he has not arrived at his goal and says ‘I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.’ We often talk about pressing on and following Jesus and about the effort and work that are required. But here, Paul reminds us that we follow Jesus as a response – He took hold of us first! We don’t initiate things as such or have to come up with good ideas; we simply respond to what God starts. That takes a lot of pressure off us!
Paul goes on to say, ‘Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’
Here, we see two aspects of the Christian life which are relevant to all believers. We have to forget what is behind. We have to let go of the past. It cannot be changed. What was good or bad in 2023 can’t be allowed to trip us up in 2024. We have to leave it behind. We must not forget what God has done, of course, but we must neither be haunted by past failures nor frozen in aspic by our successes.
Secondly, we must strain toward what is ahead and press on. There is no room for apathy or indifference in the Christian life. We must move forward. At the recent Barnsley Youth Choir Christmas concert, one of the choirs sang the African song ‘Siyahamba’ (‘We Are Marching In The Light of God’.) The verses move from walking to marching, and in some ways, this is symbolic of how we must be. God wants us to move forward with purpose and intent, confident because He is with us.
What is the goal? What are we marching towards? I believe we here are called to be ‘with God in the community‘ and ‘with God for the community.’ We are called to be conformed to the image of Christ. (Rom 8:29) We are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ and to make disciples of all nations. We are called to grow. This Christmas, my youngest granddaugher (aged 9 months) sat at the table with us and munched on turkey, potatoes and vegetables. Last Christmas, she wasn’t visible to us! It has been a year of growth! We need to see that same spiritual growth in our churches – new people, a renewed spiritual appetite for God.
Our confidence as we enter 2024 does not arise from economic stability, political acumen or our own prowess. It arises from our hope in God, the God who is calling us heavenward. Today, as I finished reading through the Bible this year, I read Revelation 22, which reminds us that Jesus is the Beginning and the End (Rev 22:13) and that He is preparing a new heaven and new earth, a place where He will dwell with His people forever. We can, therefore, press on with hope in our hearts and a spring in our steps. We can march in the light of God.
What’s On This Week
Are you confused as to what day it is?!
This Christmas week can feel very disorientating as our normal routines are thrown out of the window and many of us spend time at home or with family and friends. It’s wonderful to have this period of time, but it can be a bit confusing!
Here’s a rundown of what’s happening at GPCC this week (yes, it is a bit different!)
Instead of our usual midweek meeting on Thursday 28 December, we are meeting between 4 and 7 p.m. in the church building for food, fun and fellowship. We’ll be sharing food together and spending family time together, playing games, chatting, maybe singing a bit and generally relaxing. All welcome.
On Sunday 31 December we have just the one service, starting at 10.30 a.m. We’ll be concluding our series on ‘The Miraculous & The Mundane’ and looking at how God has blessed us throughout 2023, so do come ready to share your testimony of God’s help and goodness.
On Monday 1 January we’ll have our annual New Year’s Day party, starting at 4 p.m. Again, there’ll be food a-plenty, silly games, a quiz on 2023 and the chance to chat!
There will be no midweek meeteing on Thursday 4 January.
After that, normal service resumes, with our coffee morning and prayer walk on Saturday 6 January (10 a.m. – 12 p.m.), our Parent & Toddler group re-starting on Wednesday 10 January (Wednesdays and Fridays between 9 and 11 a.m.) and prayer meetings/ Bible studies resuming on Thursdays and two services on Sundays (10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m.)
Hope that’s clear as mud!